It’s one thing for a program to have an opponent’s number, but what Ohio State has been able to do to Penn State under James Franklin’s watch is just pure domination.
On Saturday, the No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes went into Beaver Stadium and made a major statement against the No. 3 Penn State Nittany Lions. Ohio State fell behind 10-0 fairly quickly following a pick-six by Will Howard, but the Buckeyes offense went on to score 17 unanswered points to take control of the game.
The Penn State offense is taking a lot of the blame in this one, as they were able to muster just three points in three trips to the red zone, and they also went just 3-of-11 on third downs. However, no player or unit is taking more heat than Franklin is as the head coach. This game proved, once again, that his teams struggle against the top teams in the country, and this isn’t just a theory thrown out by disgruntled fans. There is some truly unfortunate data that backs it up.
As seen in a social media post that has nearly 700,000 views, Franklin has a horrendous record against top 10 teams at home and top five teams in general, but the most glaring is his record against Ohio State. His Penn State squads have beaten Ohio State just once in 11 tries.